Improvement in processes of tempering steel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARIEL B. SPROUT, OF HUGHESVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN P ROCESSES OF TEMPERINGSTEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 43,871, dated August 16, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARIEL B. SPRoUT, of Hughesville, in the county'of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Process of Tempering Steel; and I do hereby declare the following to. be a full and exact description of the same.

By experiment I have discoveredthat soapsuds, or a combination of the substances of which the same are composed, may be employed with great advantage in the tempering of steel, as will be hereinafter explained.

In order that others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may be enabled to fully understand andvuse the same, I will proceed to describe the manner of carrying it into effect.

Heretofore it has been the common'practice to make use of pure water .in the process of tempering hard steel, and of oil in tempering soft steel. As oil will not mingle with water, the softening or hardening effect of either upon the steel cannot be increased or diminished by admixture, and hence considerable difficulty has existed in view of the necessity which not unfrequently exists of having ready means at hand by which the steel may be tempered to various degrees between that which may be effected by the use of oil or that by the use of 1 water or other hardening liquid.

By the use of soap-suds I am enabled to temper steel to any desired degree. These suds,

- or a combination of the component parts thereof made expressly for the purpose in question, may be'readily diluted to any desired extent, so as to increase or diminish the hardening effect the latter will have upon the steel on thelatter being submerged therein. The metal can thus be readily tempered to the exact degree to which it may be desired to convert it. To increase the hardening efiect of the suds upon the steel with nice exactitude,pure water is gradually added, and to reduce the hardening effect upon the steel it is only necessary to increase the relative quantity of soap in the water employed. The use of this solution not only enhances the value or quality of the steel, but effectually prevents the same from cracking or checking while undergoing the tempering process.

' Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire-to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A solution of soap-suds, or the component parts thereof, adapted to be increased or diminished in strength when employed as a medium for tempering steel, in order to give it any degree of hardness and prevent the same from cracking or checking during the tempering process, as explained.

ARIEL B. SPROUT.

Witnesses:

ROBERT HILL, ARRENA A. SWARTZ. 

